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Red-light cameras would go up at twice as many Columbus intersections and portable cameras would
be used to catch school-zone speeders under a plan headed to the City Council.

Department of Public Safety officials said today, though, that they have no plans to modify 20
cameras currently mounted at local intersections - or use 20 to be added if council members approve
an expansion - to cite motorists who drive too fast.

Doing that, they fear, would risk a voter revolt similar those that unplugged cameras last fall
following ballot measures in Chillicothe and Heath.

"It's a pragmatic recommendation on our part," Deputy Public Safety Director George Speaks said.
A department report accompanying the recommendation to City Council warned that turning red-light
cameras into speed traps "may possibly jeopardize the continuation of our current program, which
has changed driving behavior."

Crashes caused by drivers running red lights have declined 76 percent at videotaped
intersections since the first cameras were installed in Columbus in 2006. The 18 intersections
where 20 cameras are located averaged a combined 68 yearly crashes before and just 16 after,
according to city figures.

Rear-end crashes, sometimes involving drivers slamming on the brakes at changing lights, have
fallen as well, by 31 percent.

"That's a significant amount of carnage we've been able to avoid," said Cmdr. Richard Bash.

But the cameras also have been a money-maker for city government, and the expansion of their use
would help counteract a decline in both the number of $95 tickets issued and the percentage of
people paying up.

Through 2009, Columbus has collected $2.1 million from red-light cameras.

The city also would get a bigger share of red-light ticket money under the expansion plan, which
would extend a contract with Arizona-based Redflex Traffic Systems Inc. to 2013.

The city keeps 31.5 percent of each ticket now, and Redflex gets 68.5 percent.

Under the new terms, Columbus would keep 62 percent of the money from currently installed
cameras and 55 percent of the money from tickets issued by new cameras.

It's not about the money, officials insist.

"We've never viewed it as a money-maker," said Councilman Andrew J. Ginter, who chairs both the
finance and safety committees. "The policies and procedures we've put in place, I think, reinforce
that."

New cameras would go at not-yet-identified intersections with the high numbers of collisions in
recent years, Speaks said.

Among those ranked by the Mid-Ohio Regional Planning Commission as the city's most dangerous:
Hamilton Road and Livingston Avenue; Hamilton and Refugee Road; Cleveland Avenue and Morse Road;
and Morse and Sunbury roads.

Ronnie Kidd, who led the effort to shut down red-light and speeding cameras in Heath, 30 miles
east of Columbus, said he thinks city officials might be mistaken if they think they're not risking
a public backlash and referendum effort with their expansion plans.

"This might be enough," he said. "If people in Columbus want help, I assure you they'd get
help."

Ginther will host a hearing Monday on the expansion of red-light cameras in Columbus. It will
start at 5 p.m. in council chambers at City Hall.

A plan will go before the full council next month, he said. The first new cameras would be
installed within months if council members approved.

The proposal includes legislation to authorize the portable speed-monitoring cameras.

The safety department wants to lease two vehicles from Redflex that include equipment that scans
license plates and calculates the speed of passing motorists. They'd be parked in school zones much
of the year, but they'd be used around parks, playgrounds and pools during the summer.

Just as Columbus police officers review red-light footage and make the final call on citations,
Bash said, officers would be inside the SUVs to decide whether tickets would be mailed to
speeders.

He said the technology also is able to scan the license plates of passing cars, search police
data, and alert officers if the owner of a vehicle is a wanted criminal suspect or a registered sex
offender who shouldn't be in a school zone.

It also could be used during Amber Alerts, issued when a child is missing.

The SUVs would be clearly marked as Columbus Police vehicles, officials said, and the city would
work with area school districts to determine a rotation for the portable cameras among the 200
schools within Columbus city limits.